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William Blake's London

William Blake's "London" is a representative of English society as a whole, and the human condition in general that outlines the socio-economic problems of the time and the major communal evils. It condemns authoritative institutions including the military, royalty, new industries, and the Church. Blake's tone creates a feeling of informative bitterness, and is both angry and despondent at the suffering and increasing corruption of London's society. Blake's sophisticated use of notation like capitalization, his specific change in meter, and the point of view all clearly develop London.

The point of view in which Blake employs to London is significant to the understanding of the poem. Blake chooses to give the poem a persona, a person who appears to have extensive knowledge of the city and helps give credibility to the poem. (Foster, 1924) The use of first person in all three stanzas allows the poem to be more opinionated and less objective, drawing the reader's attention by making it more personal. Blake's London is to be the reader's London as well. In addition to point of view, Blake further sophisticates his piece by presenting specific tone to each section of the poem. Blake sets the tone early in the poem by using the word charter'd which shows the condition of London as repressive. The speaker refers to the people or "faces" he meets with "Marks of weakness, marks of woe." This diction advocates the probability of the city being controlled by a higher authority. The faces of the people, or the face of society reveals the feelings of entrapment and misery in the population. This in itself could propose, "humanity itself is being commercialized" (Damon, 1965). One of the interesting aspects of Blake's poetry is the layers of meaning his words connote.

Blake's advanced use of notation is evident through his utilization of capitalizing specific words to emphasize a point. Capitalization is repeatedly used in "London" to stress a higher...

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The population of London grew from 575,000 in 1700 to around 1,500,000 in 1830 despite the fact that the death rate in the city surpassed its birth rate. This is because hordes of people relocated to the city from the countryside in the hope of finding wealth and better living conditions. In his poem "London" Blake addresses this notion of the city with the reality that working class people do not thrive in such an eighteenth century metropolis and are in fact trampled under the feet of their superiors.
The title, simply "London", is significant because it pinpoints a very specific and factual place. Blake hints at the realistic as opposed to the idealistic nature of the poem from the very outset and ensures the reader interprets the setting fully, almost as if refusing the city in question any opportunity to deny the poem's accusations. Continuing with this notion, the poet mentions "the charter'd Thames" (l.2), again firmly attaching the miserable descriptions of city-life to one of the most well-known features of London - not allowing the city to dodge any truths. The use of the word "charter'd" to describe the street and the Thames (l.1, l.2) relates to the London's British Royal Charter which enabled the city to wield its unyielding power. Blake juxtaposes this image with the "Marks of weakness" (l.4) visible on the faces of the city's inhabitants. The...

...There can be little doubt that WilliamBlake's poem London' demonstrates the weakness and frailty of human nature, and the disregard the individual (or institution) has for his fellow man. Blake's character wanders through the streets of London observing the actions occurring therein, revealing to us the dark disposition of humanity.
Each verse repeats and echoes this idea with symbology, rhythm, and illustration.
The opening stanza clearly shows mans pre-occupation with all things economic and fiscal:
I WANDER thro' each charter'd street,
Near where the charter'd Thames does flow,
And mark in every face I meet
Marks of weakness, marks of woe.'
Charter'd obviously referring to things of a business nature, and perhaps of the great charters that govern England and its land: charter'd street'
Is a synonym for territory and/or property. The importance of this word is shown by the repetition through the first two lines. A charter governs those who have usually not had any say in its conception. It is made for the many, by the few. Although in ideal, a charter or treaty is supposed to provide rights and liberties- it usually achieves this by taking such things away from others.
In the era in which this poem was written the Thames was a great economic river, providing transport and commerce to London and surrounding areas. It is indeed, therefore, a chartered river. It is a body...

...The famous poem London by William Blake is widely considered to be a masterpiece by all enthusiasts of fine literature. In the poem, William Blake describes to us the situation of sorrow and despair that seems to envelope 18th century London. In the poem, William Blake is walking through a street near the river Thames and sees the people engulfed in misery and describes it as he sees it. He describes over and over again about how miserable the people are in a deeply sorrowful tone. By using the sorrowful tone, it makes it seem as though Blake wants the reader to understand and sympathize upon the situation of London during the 18th Century.
Despite London being a poem with a widely perceived deeper meaning, the structure is fairly basic. It is arranged in four quatrains much to the effect William Blake was trying to create. Each quatrain portrays a different aspect of misery in the city. ‘I wandered though each chartered street,’ the first quatrain, depicts William Blake walking through a street as he sees the fear and misery in the faces of everyone he meets, ‘A mark in every face I meet, Marks of weakness, marks of woe.’ In the second quatrain, the use of the ‘every’ expresses the widespread misery and woe of London. ‘In every cry of every man, in every infant’s cry of fear, in every voice, in every ban, the mind-forged manacles I...

... wearing a bonnet rouge and writing poetry to match the libertarian ideals he shared with the sans-culottes. His poem "London" is a rare example of a violent, revolutionary indictment of both the Establishment and the Industrial revolution.
This poem is an indictment and a battle cry. Not only does it present images of human suffering observed on a stroll around London, but it also suggests a certain vision of humanity as Blake defended it, for example in his Songs of Innocence a few years before (1789).
The analysis of the poem will revolve around two aspects. First we will study the sense of entrapment pervading (qui parcourt) the poem as a sign that fate cannot be escaped; then we shall focus on the three figures of human suffering depicted by the poet: the chimney sweep, the soldier and the harlot. We will try to understand why he chose those and what violent criticism he makes through them.
I. Sense of entrapment in the city of London
A. A sharp discrepancy between freedom and constraint
1. A stroll around the city
The poem opens as a stroll around the city: "I wander thro' each charter'd street" (line 1). The verb "wander" suggests freedom, an aimless walk that takes time and is enjoyable. As the poem starts with the pronoun "I" we feel that the poet is going to tell us something pleasant, something about himself and the city of London.
2. Order versus flow
Yet from that very line, we...

...Over the centuries theorists have tried to develop different kinds of approaches to what should and should not be in terms of literary theory and criticism. In here we will discuss three different theorists (Aristotle, Longinus, and Wordsworth) from three different theories (mimetic, pragmatic and expressive) and explain their rules and thoughts to what is "good" literature. Later on, we will apply each theorist's theory to WilliamBlake's "London", and whether it works well with the theory or not.
Aristotle, the second theorist in the history of human beings as a response to Plato's theory of the "Ideal World"; came up with another approach to the mimetic theory. Mimetic theory is to deal with copies or what is also known as mimesis. His approach was to contradict those ideas of Plato's because most probably he thought that Plato did not do literature (or any form of art) justice by eliminating it away from the ideal and basically calling it in a way or another "an ideal wreckage" because it is a copy of the copy. Aristotle thought that on the contrary to what Plato had assisted us into omitting, he thought the way writers and poets (and any form of artists there is) copies what we see is more like bringing us to the "Universal Truth". To him to copy is to omit the unnecessary details, leave us what is important, and then the truth is prevailed; because the truth is put in a much larger sphere in which we readers could...

...“Transition into a new phase of life can seem frightening; however these transitions can result in positive consequences.” Discuss this statement with reference to two of Blake’s poems and the visual stimulus ‘Growing Up’.
As an individual, we may feel daunted by the thought of moving into a new stage of life. However we must realise that change can in the long term result in positive outcomes, despite some negative experiences in the process. This feeling is explored in the poems ‘The Lamb’ and ‘The Tyger’ by William Blake. In ‘The Lamb’, the poet tells us of his childlike beliefs about the nature of creation and faith. Looking at ‘The Tyger’ we see him starting to question both these beliefs. This leads him to a deeper understanding of the world, despite seeing the darker side of this transition. The infographic, ‘Growing Up’ by Jorge Estrada, Kasey Lum, Marisa Torres, and Alexander Badr from The Vancouver Film School, uses a variety of techniques to explore several aspects of the fears associated with the process of growing up.
In the ‘The Lamb’, Blake explores his childlike innocent understanding of the nature of Jesus and creation. This poem is one of the Songs of Innocence and uses a Biblical style reminiscent of the 23rd Psalm. Repetition is used as “Little Lamb I’ll tell thee” to bring out his definite views he has learnt from childhood. There is further evidence of this innocent belief expressed through the repeated use of “Little...

...Tyler Hatley
Kristi Ulibarri
ENGL 1000
September 26, 2012
WilliamBlake’s Utopian Ideas
The utopian desire of these poems is experience and what experience is. The poem I will be referring to is The Human Abstract. I firmly believe that experience is something you gain, and something you never lose. Experience, to me, means one that has been through something. It gives you knowledge about that particular event.
In the poem The Human Abstract, Blake states “Pity would be no more, if we did not make people poor” (Lines 1-2). Which says to me, that in a utopian society, everyone would be equal therefor there would be no need to pity because pity would not exist. “And mercy no more could be, if all were as happy as we;” (Lines 3-4). I take this as it is saying that if no one was poor and everyone was happy because they are not poor, there will be no mercy or disagreements within the society. I believe that this stanza is true but the problem with this belief is, without societal class then society would no work. You have to have a lower class to have an upper class. By this I mean, if everyone was a “white collar” worker, then who would do the common man’s work? If there was no one to farm, make tools, or teach then society could not eat, do their work correctly or even have the knowledge to do that work.
Also, in the same poem, stanza two says “And mutual fear brings peace, till the selfish loves increase;” (Lines 5-6). I believe that...

...Jon Thrower
English 132
27 September 2010
WilliamBlake’s Search for Meaning in “The Tyger”
This Poem was written as a part of a collection of poems entitled “Songs of Experience” which was a kind of sequel to the book “Songs of Innocence”. This is important to know ygerbecause, the book “Songs of Innocence” is written from the point of view of a young child. Whereas the poems in “Songs of Experience” are written form the point of view of a child who is starting to learn concepts like fear and envy. The tone of this poem one of fear and also wonder it’s like the poet is fearful but also in awe of the tiger. In the First stanza Blake uses the word “night” to create fear. (Line 2) Then In the rest of poem is used to describe his wonder in the tiger.
The first stanza starts off with “Tyger! Tyger!” (Line 1) Blake does this to create a sense of fear. It’s almost as if he trying to alert us to this tiger like it is right here. Then in line 2 he writes “In the forest of the night” I remember when I was a kid going camping and being in the forest at night can be pretty unsettling. When Blake says this he are describing the place where the “Tyger” lives this paints this creature as something to be feared. Then he goes on to say in lines 3 and 4 “What immortal hand or eye / could frame thy fearful symmetry?” he is asking what could create such terror, or is there anything that can be greater than this epitome of evil called “the Tyger”...